The Ka Ying Rising effect – Mainland Chinese owner bets on Hong Kong permit and high-priced colts

A mainland Chinese owner is hoping to gain a Hong Kong Jockey Club owners’ permit after spending $1.425 million on the two highest-priced horses sold at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale on Wednesday.

Inspired by Ka Ying Rising’s stunning Everest victory in front of a packed Randwick racecourse last month, Sanxiong Gao paid a session-high $750,000 for a Per Incanto colt and $675,000 for a son of Satono Aladdin.

Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes and Lindsay Park members, son JD Hayes and bloodstock manager Josh Rix, as well as agent Dean Hawthorne, assisted Gao with the purchase of day one’s top lots.

“Mr Gao is a new incoming member of the Hong Kong Jockey Club from mainland China. We have quite a focus on developing our ownership base in the mainland,” the Jockey Club’s executive manager of International sale and owners advisory services Danny Rolston said.

“The club, in collaboration with New Zealand Bloodstock, has arranged a tour here to the Ready to Run Sale to assist some of our new owners who want a supported visit here to the sale in an effort to buy some nice horses. 

“We’ve worked with some of the Hong Kong trainers and obviously the vets that do a lot of vetting for Hong Kong to help build a shortlist and this (Per Incanto) was one horse that was quite highly rated by all the parties involved as was the Satono Aladdin earlier as well.”

The son of Per Incanto, who was consigned by Kiltannon Stables, is a half-brother to the stakes-placed War Eternal, who was bought for $300,000 as a yearling by AP Chan. 

The Satono Aladdin colt, who was prepared and offered by Riversley Park, was a $130,000 yearling pinhooked by Sam Beatson and media identity Michael Guerin. 

Gao attended last month’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale as well as The Everest meeting, prompting his large-scale investment in the colts. Now, he is sweating over receiving an owners’ permit.

“When he saw how the Hong Kong horse, Ka Ying Rising, achieved the result of winning The Everest, this idea came into his mind that he wanted to have a horse with David Hayes in Hong Kong,” Jockey Club deputy executive manager of mainland owners advisory services Jin Tian said.

“It’s a successful story leading to another success in the sales ring, so I hope he does get the ballot. 

“It is crystal clear that even if he bought the horses, there’s no guarantee for him to be successful in the ballot. But he just wants to secure quality horses in preparation for the permit.”

David Hayes indicated that the newly acquired colts would continue their education at Lindsay Park in Victoria.

“The plan is these horses will go back to Lindsay Park as Ka Ying Rising did from New Zealand and they’ll be assessed and then the most suitable one for Hong Kong will probably go to Hong Kong and the other one will probably race down with the boys (Ben, Will and JD Hayes),” Hayes said.

“The Satono Aladdins have got incredible figures in the southern hemisphere at 12 per cent stakes winners to runners, which is elite, and Per Incantos work everywhere.” 

The Jockey Club’s push to grow its ownership ranks comes as it confirmed a date of October 26 next year for the official opening of its mainland China racecourse Conghua, which has quickly become an important addition for Sha Tin’s trainers.

“Our CEO (Winfriend Engelbrecht-Bresges) has made no secret about the future of Hong Kong and the growth opportunities within the mainland,” Rolston said.

“The Conghua development has been enormous for the Hong Kong model in training so far, and as of 2026, it’ll expand into three race days.”

NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook welcomed the mainland Chinese investment at Karaka.

“Alex Teng (NZB China representative) and I were really encouraged by our recent trip up to China and it’s been wonderful to see so many mainland Chinese down here,” Seabrook said.

“It’s quite exciting for the future as more mainland Chinese become members of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and, of course, the local racing is starting to thrive.” 

Thirty-nine horses were credited to Hong Kong buyers, underscoring the importance of the Asian market to the two-year-old sale, while four were bought by mainland Chinese owners. Australian buyers led the way, purchasing 45 lots during the opening session.

After day one, the year-on-year median increased from $90,000 to $120,000 while the clearance rate sat at 66 per cent.

“The average (of $161,613), whilst down on last year’s day one average where we hit a $1.65 million sale, is well up on last year’s two-day sale average and, all in all, our turnover is up to about $600,000,” Seabrook said. 

“It was a very solid day’s trade and I think as was proved last year, (Thursday) is only going to get stronger as buyers start to need to fill their orders.

“Interestingly, we’ve got something like 230 registered buyers and only 73 of those have purchased so far. There’s still a lot of ammunition in the tank.”

Thursday’s session starts at 10am (NZDT).